Vacuum State are internationally well known for their successful Upgrade work on SACD and CD players. Focusing primarily on the original SONY SCD-1, SCD-777ES and 9000ES models, our latest Level 5 Upgrade has won Awards and been the subject of many reports in print and On-Line Highend Hifi review magazines. We are now expanding this Upgrade service to further brands, notably Marantz and TEAC/Esoteric.

Karl Lozier from Positive feedback online has written an extensive report on our Upgrades of the Sony DVP-S9000ES, SCD-777ES, and SCD-1 wiith level 5, 5 , 6 and 6 which he calls "The VSEI Sony SACD Saga".
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Level 5+ Explanation

Please note: Various forums, such as Hi-Rez, has carried on discussion about Level 5 , so some explanation is in order:

The " " is not necessary for certain models using the VC24 Digital Filter as it they do not use the S-Tact chip. The models that do are SCD-1, SCD-777ES and SCD-555ES. The fitting of the " " option benefits SACD replay and does not improve CDs on these players. For more information, please contact Allen info@vacuumstate.com.

See following FAQ

Q: I have the level 5 mod on my 777 from Warren West Coast US Agent] and am wondering if it makes sense for me to keep up with the upgrades?

A: I believe it is - I have had L5 in my own 777ES for over a year in a developmental form which meant I couldn't play RBCD's any more - and while I felt the sonic improvement in SACD playback FAR outweighed the inconvenience of no RBCD playback, it wasn't something that could really be marketed!

But when at Warren's shop last month after we exhibited at the RMAF in Denver - I made the changes to his 777ES and his one word response to me on listening to it was "Un****unbelievable!" and he never uses any sort of profanity in normal speech!

He also was completely happy to give up RBCD to have this sonic improvement but after his 'positive' response we agreed it had to put it into our clients machines - and on my return home my team here made up a small extra module that allows the player to internally & automatically switch between the Level 5 system for RBCD and Level 5 for SACD. So your RBCD will sound the same - but SACD playback will be DRAMATICALLY better!

Q: Maybe I should wait until Level 9 or 10. What are you telling those who've recently had the Level 5 done? Is the 5+ a significant upgrade?

A: As above, the concept behind Level 5 has been with me for over a year - even predating the Reference Clock Module (RCM) that is the basis of Level 5 over Level 4 - and I don't have any other bright ideas in test, or even in my mind to try for the SCD-1/SCD-777ES machines. So I honestly believe this is the end station for this big pair of machines, at least for the conceivable future.

My own 777ES at Level 5 is our sonic reference, and my SACD player development focus now is on getting some of the new universal machines up to this performance, and it's not proving easy.

Q: Also, am wondering how you would compare the Cary 306 to my modded 777. Is this a fair comparison?

A: I have never even seen this Cary player, let alone heard one - but reading this review: www.audioasylum.com/forums/hirez/messages/217416.html leads me to consider your player at Level 5 would cream it - even before Level 5 . That this reviewer, who has owned a stock SCD-1 can say: "The Sony SCD1 is just outstanding on SACD, Good on Red-Book (no mods needed on the SCD1) it a very good player on it's own" just shows his standards are far below yours & mine. I couldn't bear listening to a stock SCD-1/777ES and I'd find it hard tobelieve that you could either.

Get the Level 5 work done - you will not regret it and I believe you will start focussing on some other part of your system.